Introducing the 2014 Dividend Calendar

I am a passionate person. There are two things I am particularly passionate about. Investing and Spreadsheets. A third being my wife. This is the culmination of when those first two passions combine. (Ed. Note: My wife reminded me that I forgot a passion on the first draft!)

The beautiful thing about dividend growth investing is that you can combine these two passions seamlessly, the result of which are some pretty extensive spreadsheets documenting dividend income, future dividend income, dividends received, and more. One such feature of my spreadsheets is a dividend calendar used to track the actual dividends I receive each month and what I can expect for the remaining months of a given year.

My Dividend Calendar

As an excel junkie, using Google Docs at times can feel limiting, as the functionality while similar, just isn’t as robust for an advanced user. For some reason, at times Google didn’t seem to recognize some of the changes I made in the spreadsheet, and would keep rolling back to a previous version. Pretty frustrating to say the least! That being said, I’ve made the leap and have now created a copy of my 2014 dividend calendar and am sharing it for the world to see. I will be rolling this forward to future years to allow others to see how I progress through any given year and compare it to previous years. You can find the calendar in a drop down below my dividend growth portfolio link at the top of the site. Below you will find a screenshot of the completed dividend calendar:

Click for larger image

Dividend Calendar Features

There are few main features on my dividend calendar that I’d like to go over.

Color everywhere: The first thing you will likely notice is the wealth of colors on my spreadsheet. Since everyone has their own way of presenting things, I’ve added a legend at the top to decode the many colors on the sheet. The primary ones you will see utilized are for new purchases and acquisitions (light blue) and dividend increases (light red… Salmon perhaps?). The reason I color code events like this is because it allows me to in a snapshot know what activity I’ve had over the past year, and at what point in the year. If you click on the image above, you will see that my Loyal3 account is literally covered with light blue. One benefit of this account is the ability to purchase in small dollar amounts quite frequently. I’ve clearly maximized my potential here!

Multiple Accounts: The second feature you will notice is that I have my assets and dividends broken out by account. I currently hold my dividend growth assets in three separate accounts: a Roth IRA, a standard taxable account, and Loyal3 account. Each portfolio serves a different purpose for me and provides me the opportunity to take advantage of different opportunities. My IRA account allows me to invest in REITs and some foreign companies without concern for additional tax withholding or ordinary income issues. My taxable account will eventually hold the lion’s share of my dividend growth investments as I will put most of my new capital allocated for DG investments into this account. Lastly, my Loyal3 account will become my DRIP account for solid companies like UL, MCD, KO, PEP, and more. Because I can get credit card rewards and leverage no-cost transactions, Loyal3 makes it easy for me to put money to work regularly. Not to mention a place where one can see how just a little bit of capital each and every month can build an impressive snowball in short fashion.

Comparing the comparable: The third feature of the calendar is the period comparison at the bottom. Comparing and keeping track of my increase in passive income year over year is important, so I’ve created this comparison month by month and in total for the entire year. The bigger the growth, the happier and wealthier I am!

While not really a feature, and more of an observation, you will notice that I currently DRIP all of my holdings. This is a result of not having a sustainable level of dividend income in which the accounts will turn over on themselves. What does that mean? It means none of my accounts at this time generate enough dividend income to collect in cash and reinvest in a timely fashion without the addition of new capital. Since new capital isn’t always guaranteed in my dividend growth portfolios, it is important that I don’t lose the power of compounding by sitting on small bits of cash. If you’re interested in more of my thoughts on this, check out my post, To DRIP or not to DRIP, that is the question…

Well that pretty much covers it for my 2014 dividend calendar. I update this calendar very regularly, so you will see the numbers, and colors change as I make purchases, receive dividend increases, and expand my portfolio. So please head over and check out the full 2014 dividend calendar and let me know your thoughts!

How do you keep track of your investments and project future dividend income?

When it comes to graphs and spreadsheet you are the go to guy! I tried making my own spreadsheet of dividend dates to monitor my dividends, its not as pretty as yours and its much messier. I am 20% done and no intention of finishing it up! Great job W2R!
FFF

W2R, Great looking spreadsheet! I love how you separated the stocks by account. I’ll probably borrow that for my own spreadsheets, at least once I get some more stocks. Are the colors something that is automated? It looks like it would be challenging to try and keep up-to-date.

Scott, thanks for your kind words! Feel free to borrow anything you’d like! The colors are manually added, and it is as easy as marking the cell of a position the day you buy it. Since I’m recording the purchase anyways, adding a color doesn’t add too much to the process to be a burden. The best part is that it gives me a great window into the past year as to what I’ve accomplished and how my portfolio has changed.

Loving this look, W2R. Very sleek with great style and design aesthetic. I get my clearest sense that DGI works by looking at dividend payouts overtime like this. I’m looking forward to watching your payouts climb from here.

Thanks Ryan, I’m glad you like it! I agree that being able to watch payouts increase over time is one of the perks of dividend growth investing. It is a tangible return and easy for anyone to understand.

Nice Calendar! That is a lot better detail than the one I use =) Personally, I don’t like to have estimated dividends on the spreadsheet that I use to track. I like manually entering them in after I check my brokerage account and see that they are paid. It’s like Christmas every day I get a dividend.

The beauty of the calendar is the customization to each person’s desires! I like the forecasting because it gives me a general sense of where I’m going. Because I currently set my dividend goals based on dividends received, it provides a glimpse at what else needs to happen to hit my goals. For 2014 this happens to be a shortfall, but now I’m aware I will need to work even harder next year.

I, too, really enjoy inputting my dividends received, since at that point the future dividends update based on the reinvested amounts. Like watching compounding happen each quarter at a time.

Love the site and the spreadsheet. Do you have a color code yet for a stock split? I totally agree with you on finding Excel much easier to use than Google Docs. It just is so much more flexible, especially once you add in complicated equations or references.

Nice job on the spread sheet! I use a basic excel spread sheet to track my quarterly dividends. I also still use Microsoft Money to manage my portfolio and use it to generate reports. Someone created a patch that allows you to do live stock updates. Still works well even if it is not supported by MS. Your sheet is very professional looking. Thanks for sharing!

Thank for you for the compliments! I am happy with the sheet, and have an even more extensive document that tracks so much more offline. Just an addictive part of investing for me is tracking these things, and the DG concept feeds into this beautifully.

Google also has the live stock feeds, and something I will likely incorporate as I overhaul my DG portfolio page and make it more dynamic.

Good to know you’re a fellow spreadsheet fan! The goal for this spreadsheet is to create a visual snapshot of my dividend holdings, the dividends earned each month, and the activity each month. When looking backwards, I can easily see when a position increased their dividend, when I purchased or added to a position, and even when I sold a position. All of those things impact my dividends in that year and moving forward, so the ease of which I can review the historic information drove me to create it.

Of course, being a spreadsheet junkie, I don’t really need much of an excuse to create anything that resembles a spreadsheet.

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Disclaimer:

I am not an investing professional, and as such, any investments or financial topics discussed on this page are my opinions only, and should not be considered financial advice or recommendations to purchase or sell securities, or any other investments.